On October 11, 2024, Judge Orelia E. Merchant issued a decision construing the claims of three asserted patents in a litigation filed by Plaintiff Artec Europe S.A.R.L. (“Artec”) against Defendants Shenzhen Creality 3D Tech. Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Jimuyida Technology Co., Ltd. (collectively, “Creality”). Among other disputes, Judge Merchant considered whether several claim terms were drafted in “means-plus-function” form.
As noted by the Court, claim terms like the ones in dispute that do not use the term “means” are presumed to not be means-plus-function terms. However, that presumption can be overcome by a showing that “the claim term fails to recite sufficiently definite structure.” In particular, “nonce words that reflect nothing more than verbal constructs” are often construed as means-plus-function terms when they fail to provide a “sufficiently definite meaning” for a structure that is reasonably understood in the art.
In resolving the claim construction disputes, Judge Merchant agreed with Creality that two terms reciting a “device” and “detection device” should be construed as means-plus-function terms. Artec had previously argued in a related inter partes review that “the word ‘device’ is a well-known nonce word” that was “defined solely by its [f]unction,” which is “plainly a means-plus-function term.” Further, although “the prefix ‘detection’ is appended to ‘device’” in the second term, the specification provided “no structural meaning as to how a POSITA would consider the term “detection device’” and no “examples of detection devices.”
Conversely, Judge Merchant found that Creality had failed to rebut the presumption as to other terms relating to a “computing device,” “display device,” or “projection device” for performing certain functions. The specifications provided examples of such devices and other descriptions of their structure, which confirmed that the claims were not merely directed to “nonce words” defined solely by their function.
Artec Europe S.A.R.L. v. Shenzhen Creality 3D Tech. Co., Ltd., No. 1:22-CV-1676 (OEM)(VMS) (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 11, 2024)
